Nairobi Anti-Corruption Court Magistrate Lawrence Mugambi deferred plea taking until August 17 since only two of them turned up in court/FILE
NAIROBI, Kenya, Aug 3 – The National Authority for Campaign against Alcohol and Drug Abuse (NACADA) CEO William Okedi and five other tender committee members will now answer to corruption related charges in two weeks’ time.
Nairobi Anti-Corruption Court Magistrate Lawrence Mugambi deferred plea taking until August 17 since only two of them turned up in court.
Those who appeared in court were Zeka Wekesa and Anthony Munyui. Others who are facing charges alongside Okedi are John Muturi, Florina Mwikali and George Murimi.
The anti-corruption court heard that Okedi who was summoned on Tuesday by the anti-graft body is admitted to the Nairobi Hospital while Muturi who is out of the country is set to jet back Friday.
A prayer by the prosecution seeking to have the court issue a warrant of arrest against Murimi on grounds that efforts to contact him have been futile, was rejected.
Magistrate Mugambi was told that Murimi is yet to honour summons issued last November requiring him to appear before the EACC for questioning.
“The investigating officer has tried to send emails to the accused but he has failed to respond. His demeanour is in bad faith, we pray that warrants be issued and effected through the immigration office and embassy in Malaysia,” the court heard.
Okedi is accused of wilfully failing to comply with the law relating to procurement by failing to ensure that NACADA procured a consultant for the management of Alcoholic Drinks Control funds set aside for the funding of Civil Society Organisations through a prescribed method under the Public Procurement and Disposal Act 2005.
He also faces an abuse of office charge while his co-accused persons are charged with a similar charge of wilful failure to comply with the law relating to procurement.
Being members of the tender committee, they allegedly failed to ensure that the evaluation process for the provision of the consultancy services for the management of NACADA to Civil Society Organizations was in accordance with the law.
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